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COVID19: Remdesivir production to be ramped up, price to come down

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GUWAHATI: The spike in COVID19 cases in the past week has resulted in demand for medical supplies and medicine. Taking a note of the urgent requirement the Government of India has approved stepping up of production of Remdesivir to increase supply and control the price. Also, Enforcement Authorities of States and Central government have been directed by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to take immediate action on incidents of black-marketing, hoarding and overcharging of Remdesivir says a government release.

Manufacturers of Remdesivir have volunteered to reduce the price to less than Rs 3500 by the end of this week, to support the efforts of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, to Fight against COVID. Manufactures of Remdesivir have been directed to give priority to fulfil hospital/institutional level supplies. National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is continuously monitoring the availability of Remdesivir.

[Remdesivir was originally developed to treat hepatitis C, and was subsequently investigated for Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus infections before being studied as a post-infection treatment for COVID-19.] Wikipedia

The current total installed capacity of the seven manufacturers of Remdesivir is 38.80 lakh vials per month. Fast-track approval has been given for seven additional sites having the production capacity of 10 Lakh vials /month to six manufacturers. Another 30 lakh vials/month production is lined up. This would ramp up the production capacity for manufacturing to around 78 lakh vials/month said the release.

As an additional measure, Remdesivir, API and formulation were placed under Export ban on 11.04.2021by DGFT to increase the supply of Remdesivir in the Domestic Market. On Government intervention, Remdesivir supplies of approximately 4 lakh vials meant for export is being diverted by manufacturers to fulfill domestic requirement. EOU/SEZ units are also being enabled to supply to the domestic market.

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